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I’ll lead PDP back to power in Abia – Ikpeazu *Dumping party not an option
Okezie Ikpeazu, immediate past Governor of Abia State has vowed to devote his time from now on to leading the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), to retake power from the Labour Party (LP), which snatched it by the skin of the teeth, after 24 years, short of the years of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), between 2007 to 2010.
Against the backdrop of a swathe of defections, which hit the party in recent days, including those of Anthony Agbazuere, his Chief of Staff (CoS) Eze Chikamnayo, a former Commissioner of Information, Uzo Azubuike, former Member of the House of Representatives and others to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party at the centre, Ikpeazu, swore to maintain his staunch membership of the Nigerian main opposition party.
The former governor, who was a prominent member of the G-5 – a group of PDP governors, who stoutly resisted the emergence of PDP presidential candidate and National Chairman of the party coming from the North in the run to the 2023 presidential election, told a well-attended PDP caucus meeting held at the new party secretariat, Onyerubi Crescent, Ogurube Layout, Umuahia on Thursday, that he would rather stay back in the fold to rebuild the party.
Ikpeazu, who was a two-term governor of the state for eight, from 2015 to 2023, while explaining that the exit of the party faithful, including his former aides, were their personal choice, which they were free to make, called on the remaining members, to ensure unity of purpose and work for the party to quickly return to winning ways.
His words: “We must all take individual responsibility for our performance in the 2023 elections even as our party is going through self-cleansing at the moment. I will remain in PDP and will never be found wanting in my responsibilities to our party and its rebuilding process.
“Those who want to leave will leave no matter what you do but loyalty is also about the realisation that at some point this party has been good to you. It is now time for sacrifice, especially from those who previously benefitted from our party in one way or another as we must all join hands to reposition it.”
Asiforo Okere, PDP Chairman in the state, who earlier thanked members who have remained steadfast in supporting the party, especially after the 2023 elections, reminded them that the party still maintained a majority at the state House of Assembly even when the election was conducted on the same day with governorship election that the party lost.
Informing that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had extended the tenures of elected ward executives by three months in an acting capacity, he also announce the constitution of three committees to handle Peace and Reconciliation, Way Forward and Finance (PRWFF) in the party.
Austin Akobundu, Senator representing Abia Central, who echoed the same sentiments, argued that while people were free to leave and join any political party of their choice, the PDP remained a movement that nobody could kill in the state, while Onyema Ugochukwu, pioneer Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) and an elder statesman from the state called for unity among members.
Ugochukwu, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), while stressing that the time for blame-game was over as there were no factions in the party, maintained that the leaders and members having learned from the 2023 experience, must be ready to bounce back, adding that time had come to reposition the party and ensure that young members found comfort and space to contribute to its leadership in the state.
The caucus meeting was attended by other top members including the immediate past Deputy Governor of Abia State, Ude Oko Chukwu, Mao Ohuabunwa, Senator formerly representing Abia North, governorship candidate at the 2023 elections, Okey Ahiwe, as well as former and serving PDP members of Abia State House of Assembly led by Solomon Akpulonu, members of the National and State Working Committees and other invited stakeholders.
Fuel marketers across Abuja on Wednesday continued to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, at old prices more than 24 hours after Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced a reduction in its ex-depot price, Vanguard is reporting.
The paper reported that its investigation, showed that major retail outlets were yet to adjust their pump prices despite the N75 per litre reduction announced by the refinery on Monday.
At the retail stations visited in Abuja, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Retail and TotalEnergies dispensed petrol at N1,335 per litre, while AA Rano sold at N1,350 per litre. AYM Shafa and Conoil outlets sold the product at N1,330 per litre.
The development comes amid growing public expectations that the reduction in Dangote Refinery’s gantry price would quickly translate into lower pump prices nationwide.
Explaining the delay, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said retail prices are influenced by several factors beyond refinery gate prices.
Speaking to Channels TV, Gillis-Harry said: “Prices reflecting at the pump are dependent on availability of the product, the other is the cost. The cost of purchasing the product and cost in terms of logistics, and preparing the particular petroleum to be delivered to the people”.
According to him, downward price adjustments often take longer to reach consumers because marketers need to recover the cost of existing stock purchased at higher prices before restocking at lower rates.
When asked why increases in fuel prices are usually reflected immediately while reductions are delayed, Gillis-Harry said the dynamics of supply management play a significant role.
He explained: “It is mainly affected by whether the producer has additional resources or not at the time. Increases in prices are mainly caused by the need to restock. There must be that advantage pushing the price upward to be able to pay for new supplies.”
He further acknowledged that marketers generally seek to exhaust existing inventory before implementing lower prices.
“That’s the basic idea. But in petroleum, a mixture is involved, and loss is taken, though not in a way that affects the capital needed to restock,” he added.
Also speaking on the issue, energy analyst Olabode Sowunmi said fuel pricing in Nigeria is influenced by a combination of domestic supply arrangements and logistics costs, rather than crude oil prices alone.
He noted that although international crude oil prices remain an important factor globally, their impact on local petrol pricing is not always direct.
“Global price of crude oil is a factor internationally and not necessarily in Nigeria,” Sowunmi said.
Explaining that Dangote Refinery operates under arrangements that allow a portion of crude supply to be priced in naira, reducing the direct impact of international market fluctuations on local fuel prices, he said: “So basically the issue will have to be from the point of refinery to where it touches the final person. Logistics costs within the domestic supply chain remain a major determinant of the final pump price paid by consumers.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
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